on Fri, 15 Oct 2004 John Lucas <jlucas@ROWLAND.UMSMED.EDU> wrote:

> Not always, but often, these research projects can involve grant funds
> for the research.  The researcher can sometimes use grant money for the
> purchase of these limited audience publications.

        As director of National Institutes of Health, Harold
        Varmus once complained to a Congressional committee
        that researchers used their grant funds to purchase
        subscriptions. Since then he has been an advocate
        of using federal research grants to help with
        publication. The downside of this is that US federally
        sponsored research is quite a small piece of the
        international pie that interests researchers,
        faculty, and students.

        Using outside funds such as grants to purchase
        subscriptions was reported by 8 percent of 750
        individuals surveyed over 20 years ago. At that
        time, the cancellation of library subscriptions
        accounted for just over 1 percent of responses
        by individuals. Roughly 20 percent indicated they
        formerly used a library copy, but this had become
        impractical. The disappearance of outside funds,
        such as grants, accounted for cancellation of
        journals by near 7 percent of respondents. The
        number one reason for library cancellations was
        given as budget curtailments. (H S White. "Factors
        in the Decision by Individuals And Libraries to
        Place or Cancel Subscriptions to Scholarly and
        Research Journals", Library Quarterly 50:287-309,
        1980.)

        Good luck with your problem.

        Best wishes,

Albert Henderson
- Former Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY 1994-2000
- Contributor HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. AN
ENCYCLOPEDIA (ABC-CLIO 2002)

-------------Forwarded Message-----------------

>>> fc01@AUB.EDU.LB 10/15/04 12:31AM >>>
Faculty members working on individual research project want special
journals needed for their special projects to be acquired and added to the
library collection. This is costly, time consuming because could result in
adding journals used by very few users and needed for a limited period.

What are libraries doing ? Do you always honor faculty request for
journals related to their research ?

Thanks in advance for any advice
Best Regards

Fatme Charafeddine
Serials Librarian/ University Libraries
American University of Beirut